New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh’s government has said that existing rules regulating its employees’ contributions to the print media and appearances on radio broadcasts also applies to social media platforms, digital news outlets and news channels.
A government order issued on Wednesday (June 19) to all the state’s additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries asked them to inform their subordinates of this new interpretation of existing rules.
The order said that while the Uttar Pradesh Government Servants’ Conduct Rules, 1956 deals with print media and radio, it was “noteworthy that in present times, the forms of media have expanded”.
It went on to say that news channels, social media platforms – including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp and Instagram – as well as news portals are part of the media today, and that the 1956 Rules will be understood to cover these and “all possible prevalent forms of media” in the “current scenario”.
According to rule 6 of 1956 Rules, government servants cannot own, operate, edit or manage newspapers or periodical publications without permission from the government.
Nor can they make radio broadcasts, send articles to newspapers or periodicals, or write to publications anonymously or using a pseudonym without permission.
The exception is that permission is not needed when such engagements are only about cultural, artistic or scientific matters.
ThePrint cited some bureaucrats as being concerned about the lack of differentiation between public and private conversations on social media platforms like WhatsApp.
“There have been instances in the past where people have taken screenshots of a private WhatsApp conversation that an official has had with someone and circulated as his/her opinion,” an unnamed senior UP official told ThePrint.
They also said: “This is like a gag order only to ensure that there are curbs on any kind of criticism of the government.”
The outlet also cited a different official as saying that bureaucrats cannot express their opinions publicly and that according to the state government, “bureaucrats expressing their thoughts publicly can lead to anarchy and that the government may have to bear its brunt”.
One bureaucrat who served as secretary to a former chief minister told ThePrint that there have been instances of bureaucrats facing adverse action from the government for posts they made on WhatsApp groups comprising their colleagues.
A government employee told The Telegraph that the order was linked to the BJP’s reduced performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
“It was the government which was forcing its employees and officers to participate in TV shows and other media programmes to publicise the schemes of the government. There were many special shows on news channels in which officers, including policemen in uniform, used to participate and praise the government.
“But as the popularity of the BJP seems to have decreased, it is now intimidating those employees who have been critical of the schemes and actions of the government,” they were quoted as saying.
Last year, the UP government issued an order directing officials to probe ‘negative’ news items published by media outlets.
The order said officials concerned must seek explanations from the media houses if the facts in the story were found to be “twisted” or “false” in order to tarnish the image of the government.
The order did not refer to false or twisted news in the event that they depict the government in a good light.
